George Stephanopoulos Frets Over Bart Stupak and His 'Mutiny' Over Health Care

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Thursday put the
responsibility for passing health care on the shoulders of the pro-life Bart
Stupak, worrying that the Congressman is "now threatening a mutiny over the
issue of abortion." The GMA host interviewed Stupak and pressed him three
times on voting for the legislation. [Audio available here.]

At one point, he solemnly queried, "If the President doesn't change the
language, if your language is not accepted, you and your 11 colleagues who voted
yes the last time will vote no this time. Does that mean you're prepared to take
responsibility for bringing down this whole bill?"

Notice that Stephanopoulos placed the obligation on Stupak and not on
pro-abortion Democrats who, one could argue, are more concerned with that issue
than with passing health care. Earlier in the segment, the ABC journalist
grilled, "So, if the President doesn't change the Senate bill, you can't vote
for it?"

In the previous segment, Stephanopoulos talked with Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Pivoting off her denial that the bill funds
abortion, the former Democratic operative turned journalist focused, again, on
whether Stupak could vote for the legislation.

Stephanopoulos insisted to the Michigan Congressman, "She said the
President's bill, the President's proposal, does not change the status quo on
abortion, does not have federal funding on abortion. Do you agree? And can you
vote for it?"

Now, the network anchor did challenge Sebelius by wondering, "Well, as you
know, Congressman Stupak simply disagrees. He says the Senate bill does do that
[fund abortion] and President's proposal does do that."

But, Stephanopoulos did not press the HHS secretary on whether abortion was
more important to Democrats than a bill. And, considering that the restrictions
on abortion funding were in the House bill, but have been stripped out of the
Senate version, he didn't ask if pro-choice Democrats were "mutinying" against
their pro-life colleagues.

A transcript of the Stupak interview, which aired at 7:09am EST on March 4,
follows:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's bring in Congressman Stupak
now. And, Congressman, you heard Secretary Sebelius there. She said
the President's bill, the President's proposal, does not change the
status quo on abortion, does not have federal funding on abortion. Do you
agree? And can you vote for it?

BART STUPAK: Well, no one has seen the President's bill yet. We've seen
proposals. The President indicated yesterday four more proposals he'd like to
incorporate. So, we want to see the bill. But, the bill that they're using as
the vehicle, is the Senate bill. And if you go to page 2,069, through page
2,078, you will find in there, the federal government would directly subsidize
abortions. Plus, every enrollee in the Office of Personnel Management enrolled
plan, every enrollee, has to pay a minimum of $1 per month toward reproductive
rights, which includes abortions.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, if the President doesn't change the Senate bill, you
can't vote for it?

STUPAK: No. We're not going to vote for this bill with that kind of language
in there. The President says no federal funding for abortion. I have eight
pieces of legislation we currently have in federal law that says no public
funding for abortion. Take any one of these and insert the language. And we'll
be happy. We can support this legislation. We voted for health care before. I
want to see health care pass. I agree with the Secretary. People are being
priced out of the market. We must have health care. But, boy, there's some
principles and beliefs that some of us are not going to pass.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But, Congressman, how can you do that? As I understand the
process, that kind of abortion language cannot be tied to the reconciliation
bill. It would be knocked out of the reconciliation bill. So, there's no way to
change the Senate bill.

STUPAK: We did welfare reform under reconciliation when President Clinton was
in. SCHIP SCHIP, the State Children's Health Initiative Program was passed
through reconciliation. You can do it. If there's a will, there's a way. That's
just an excuse they're giving. Look, give us the language. Let's keep the
current law. No public funding for abortion. Let's pass health care. Affordable,
quality health care for all Americans. That's what I want to see done.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Have you asked the President to put your language in the
bill?

STUPAK: We've repeatedly told his staff, here's what we need. Yes, I had a
discussion with the President back in September, before we had our amendment
back on the House floor. You know, it's there in current law. They keep saying
they want to maintain current law. Take their choice. There's eight programs out
there. Just keep the language.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But, let- Let me be clear here.

STUPAK: Sure.

STEPHANOPOULOS: If the President doesn't change the language, if your
language is not accepted, you and your 11 colleagues who voted yes the last time
will vote no this time. Does that mean you're prepared to take responsibility
for bringing down this whole bill?

STUPAK: Yes. We're prepared to take responsibility. I mean, I've been
catching it ever since last fall. I mean, lets face it: I want to see health
care. But we're not going to bypass some principles and beliefs that we feel
strongly about. And the President, he has shown flexibility. He's putting in
Republican proposals. Look, let's keep current law. No public funding for
abortion. Lets pass health care.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And if he accepts your abortion language, quickly, will you
vote for the bill?

STUPAK: We'll read it. We'll make sure it's a quality piece of legislation.
Members are not interested in voting for the Senate bill. That's for sure.

-Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on
Twitter.

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